National Conference chief Omar Abdullah met Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra on Tuesday hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party ended its alliance with the Peoples Democratic Party, ANI reported.
“I have told the governor that since no party has the mandate to form the government, he will have to impose governor’s rule in the state,” Abdullah told reporters after the meeting. “We also requested him that governor’s rule should not remain imposed for long. After all, people have the right to choose their government. Fresh elections should take place and we will accept the mandate of the people.”
Congress President Rahul Gandhi said the damage done by the BJP-PDP alliance in the state will continue under president’s rule. “The opportunistic BJP-PDP alliance set fire to Jammu and Kashmir, killing many innocent people including our brave soldiers,” Gandhi said on Twitter. “It cost India strategically and destroyed years of UPA’s hard work. Incompetence, arrogance and hatred always fails.”
Veteran Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad accused the BJP of making excuses to quit the alliance with the PDP. Azad, a former chief minister of the state, ruled out any tie-up with the PDP. “BJP ruined the state of Jammu and Kashmir,” Azad told reporters. “They are covering up corruption...BJP is now making excuses. The people’s suffering will now end.”
Azad said the BJP had committed a “Himalayan blunder” by forming a government with a regional player like the PDP. “The regional parties should have been allowed to form an alliance among themselves,” he added.
The senior Congress leader said the alliance had devastated Jammu and Kashmir and left it in ruins. He said ceasefire violations and civilian deaths had risen sharply during the PDP-BJP government’s rule. “The BJP exited after finishing the state physically and economically,” he alleged. “The first criminal in this entire episode is the government of India.”
PDP spokesperson Rafi Ahmad said the party did not have any idea that the BJP would take this step. “We tried our best to run the government with the BJP,” Ahmad said. “This had to happen. This is a surprise for us because we did not have any indication about their decision.” He said the party will convene a meeting at 4 pm and hold a press conference an hour later.
‘PDP-BJP alliance unnatural’
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said the alliance between the PDP and the BJP was “anti-national and unnatural”. “Our party chief [Uddhav Thackeray] had said this alliance won’t work out,” Raut said. “Had they continued with it they would have had to answer in 2019 Lok Sabha election.”
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also said that the BJP had pulled out of the state government after ruining the state. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said the PDP-BJP alliance should have never happened.
“By breaking away the alliance in Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP can not absolve itself from the responsibilities as a ruling partner in the last three-and-a-half years,” Congress leader Rajeev Shukla said in a tweet.
Earlier in the afternoon, the BJP said it was ending its alliance with the PDP and called for governor’s rule in the state. “It has become untenable for [the] BJP to continue with the alliance in Jammu and Kashmir,” said National General Secretary Ram Madhav during a press conference in Delhi.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti submitted her resignation to Vohra. Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Kavinder Gupta also submitted his resignation.
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